There's no doubt Vilas was a great clay court player and he was excellent in 1977 but in keeping with this thread which is asking who is the clay court goat, "If you had your life on the line and you had to pick one player to win between Borg and Vilas and they played at Roland Garros in 1977 in the French Open Final, who would you bet on?" You have to pick Borg unless you have a death wish.

Whoever you'd bet your life on in a hypothetical 1977 French Open final between Vilas and Borg, you can't base who had the better year on that, you have to go by what actually happened in terms of tournament results throughout the year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pc1

Did Vilas have a great clay season in 1977? My answer is yes. Was he the best clay court player in 1977? My answer is no. Clearly Borg was.

Not in terms of results. Vilas won 2 clay court grand slams and had an awesome run on clay in the second half of the year. Whether Borg could have beaten Vilas at the French Open if he had showed up or if he could have beaten Vilas at the US Open if he hadn't have gotten injured is all hypothetical speculation.